I have two of these Zeiss Ikon Contaflex-es from ( naturally ) the sixties---the Super B....about 1965 and one from 1964. I took these cameras all over from 1995 till about 2006 and took a million pictures with them...until I got another oldie that was more modern...

I have two 50mm f2.8 normal lenses, a 35mm f4 and a 115 f4 and a very rare 50mm 1:1 lens ( mint in leather pouch )

...and a set of close up lenses ( Proxars ) in a plastic case...various filters and a Contaflex Polarizer that is no good.

It is kind of a slow camera to work but it is fine for landscapes and leisurely photography.

Zeiss photography stuff is as spectacular today as it was back then. I have 2 Zeiss lenses I use with my Nikon Camera, the Distagon 25mm f/2 and the Makro-Planar 100mm F/2. They are both manual focus only lenses, but they're a joy to use and produce spectacular image quality.

Ted

Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.

I also have a rare BLACK Olympus 35SP rangefinder ( meter not working---OR I need to try the correct voltage battery---a Wein battery to replace the obsolete mercury batteries from the old days...)....

42mm permanently attached lens...superb. This camera is a cult classic.

I have a rare Olympus PS 100 G flash unit for it from the early seventies...

My dad bought two Nikkor 35mms when he was stationed at Clark. I can't imagine what those old original nikons are worth. The best I have is an old Nikon FA, which was one step below the Nikon F3 that all the pros used back in the '80s. The FA is still a nice camera -- and it was for an amateur in high school as well. It cost me all of my summer money in 1988 that I made from working odd jobs.

Those are cool, Ed.

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement. -Winston Churchill

In 1987 I bought a Nikon N4004---the first generation of autofocus cameras. That was a good camera, but I had to get used to the camera wanting to focus on stuff without my permission.

Autofocus is great once your eyes begin to get unreliable. I still like the old cameras that allow you to control all the...controls! These new digital cameras drive me crazy with their slow-ass shutters! ( I thought the old, original electronic shutters were bad enough, but the new digitals only fire when they're damn good and ready---and you've missed the shot by then!!! )

Nothing like a mechanical camera. And, of course, rangefinders just go off with a little snick. Exactly when you want it to!

These new digital cameras drive me crazy with their slow-ass shutters! ( I thought the old, original electronic shutters were bad enough, but the new digitals only fire when they're damn good and ready---and you've missed the shot by then!!! )

That's no longer the case. Times change. Today's digital SLRs can fire up to 10 frames per second or more, with instantaneous reaction time. Even many point & shoot digitals no longer have the lag any more. In fact, there's virtually nothing that the film cameras of old could do that digital cameras today can't. You can shoot completely manual, with all the same controls as your old film cameras.

You don't still listen to 8 track tapes, do you, Ed?

Ted

Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle.

Well, my little digital is a 2008 model ( a Canon SureShot )...and that shutter really burns me up. I'm happy to know that the new shutters now go off immediately. I know that the digital DSLR cameras function like the old guys did....but, they are freaking expensive.

My daughter has a Canon Rebel or something. She can shoot like a machine gun.

I do not have 8 track tapes!! I have TRANSISTOR radios with KNOBS on them so I can turn them with my fingers!!!! I can't operate radios with little buttons on them the size of fleas!!!

I wish I had my dad's Argus C-3 rangefinder, but at least my sister has it. I do have a 1948 35mm Leica rangefinder M lens that I use. I also have a russian brand film rangefinder camera that I bought from a russian on ebay. The shutter worked three times before it broke.

Nice, Ed! I like that shoe mount light meter. Dad had a small handheld. He had the flash buib gun, too, that mounted on the side of the camera. As a kid, I used to play with the light meter and camera, without film.

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